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It’s generally bad business to trade away a 24-year-old outfielder who projects to be a very good baseball player for a long time, so you know there was a lot more behind the Cardinals’ decision on Wednesday to deal Colby Rasmus to the Blue Jays.

Rumors persisted that Rasmus had a difficult relationship with manager Tony La Russa, and the trade — and the comments from Rasmus’ father that followed — confirmed them.

La Russa, speaking with KSDK-TV, said he feels “concern” for Rasmus, insinuating that the hitting advice from Rasmus’ father interfered with the advice from the Cardinals’ coaching staff.

“This is the second time Tony [La Russa] has said this in the last three weeks. The statement that Colby is listening to me is 100 percent fiction,” Tony Rasmus told the newspaper.”Evidently [La Russa] has absolutely made that stuff up. He’s got it on the brain. If I was working with my son, I’d tell people.”

Tony Rasmus said he believed La Russa got too caught up in the idea that Colby Rasmus was working with his son, rather than just letting him play.

“Put a kid on the field, if he’s not good enough to play, put his ass on the bench, never mind all this other stuff,” Tony Rasmus said.

He also noted that the Cardinals are in for more clubhouse turmoil now that his son is on the Blue Jays.

“There are three or four guys in the St. Louis clubhouse right now, thinking ‘oh-oh, who is the manager going to pick on next with Colby gone?'” Tony Rasmus said.

While La Russa is now unlikely to comment on a player no longer on his team, it’s a safe bet he won’t be receiving the Rasmus family Christmas card in the mail this winter.

Photo of the day

Is Tony La Russa losing touch with his players, or is Tony Rasmus off his rocker?

Quote of the day

“We’ll talk about [the Albert Haynesworth trade] when it’s finished, if it’s finished.”–Bill Belichick, in his first news conference of the 2011 season, delivering his trademark coach speak whn asked about the deal for Albert Haynesworth